WMATA board approves joint development agreement for transit-oriented development team

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Board of Directors approved the Joint Development Agreement to advance the process for creating transit-oriented development (TOD) in the area surrounding the New Carrollton Metrorail station in Prince George's County, Md.

The agreement with New Carrollton JV, LLC, allows the development team, led by Forest City Washington and Urban Atlantic, to move forward with the largest development project in Prince George's County since National Harbor. To make the project possible, WMATA partnered with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and assembled parcels owned by both agencies to create a larger developable site.

Plans for the 39-acre New Carrollton site call for the creation of a multi-modal, transit-oriented, mixed-use destination with residential, office, retail and hotel uses that reduces dependency on automobiles and enhances and promotes the use of mass transit systems. At full build out, the new development will include two to four million square feet of mixed uses valued at $1 billion in new investment and is expected to catalyze up to 10 million additional square feet of development in the surrounding area.

The Maryland Transit Administration's plans for the Purple Line will provide light-rail service from New Carrollton to Bethesda, providing an even greater degree of connectivity for this TOD project.

"The unanimous approval of the New Carrollton project's Joint Development Agreement by the WMATA board is strong evidence of the highly-productive public-private partnership that has been forged for this project between WMATA, MDOT, Forest City and Urban Atlantic," said WMATA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Richard Sarles. "The project will also help WMATA advance two of the goals in WMATA's Strategic Plan by improving mobility and connecting communities at New Carrollton and also by increasing financial stability through better utilization of our assets."

WMATA and the development team have been working closely with community stakeholders from Prince George's County and the state of Maryland in the master planning of the site. Approval of the Joint Development Agreement now moves the project into active pre-development.